


First Meeting

by Transdodds



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, M/M, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 20:30:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16940193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Transdodds/pseuds/Transdodds
Summary: Peter was expecting to sneak out at Christmas before Rafaels mother arrived, not realising that Rafael wanted them to finally meet.





	First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChameleonCircuit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChameleonCircuit/gifts).



With an hour to go until Barbas mother was supposed to arrive Peter was preparing to go out and find a bar to sit in for the rest of the day. It wasn’t exactly an ideal Christmas, but compared to the prospect of meeting the mother of the person he prosecuted it would probably be bliss.

With his coat on he went over to say goodbye to Rafael, who immediately looked confused.

Before Peter could say he was leaving Rafael spoke, running a hand through his hair, obviously stressed. “Where are you going and what are you wearing, she’s going to be here in less than an hour”

“Exactly, I have a feeling you would want me gone before she arrived.” Peter replied.

“Why would I want that?”

“You’re her son and I’m the man that took her sons job.” Peter explained. 

“You know that’s not true”

“I know” Peter said, even if he still got a twinge of guilt in his chest whenever he thought about it. “But she doesn’t”

“And she never will if she doesn’t meet you. She’ll see how happy you make me and everything will be fine” Rafael said, at least he hoped it would be fine. He was just tired of evading questions of boyfriends whenever his mother asked. He had thought his days of lying about his relationships were over. All the sneaking around, it made the relationship feel wrong, shameful, and Rafael didn’t want something that made him so happy to be something he felt they had to hide. “Anyways, you didn’t really think I would make you spend Christmas alone, did you? Now, go change into something nice, maybe that jumper I got you.”

With that Peter rushed off to the bedroom, running over different options of what to wear, determined to make as good of an impression as possible. He didn’t really believe Rafael when he said that his mother would back off when she saw how happy they were together, ruining your son's career wasn't something so easily forgiven, but he wanted to do what he could to make the dinner go smoothly. For Rafael's sake if nothing else.

When the doorbell rang signalling Lucia's arrival it was only years of first hiding his nerves when he stepped up to the plate and then using those same instincts in court which stopped him vibrating with nerves and instead he plastered on a confident smile. Lucia hugged Rafael tight and as she pulled away Rafael introduced Peter as his boyfriend, which made Peters heart skip a beat, still not over how ridiculously happy it made him to be referred to as Rafael's boyfriend. But that happiness couldn't completely wipe away the nerves as he stretched out his hand and saw the way that Lucias smile became thinner, tighter, as she heard the news, heard his name. Nevertheless she took his hand in hers and shook it, even as she looked him up and down with a stare that made Peter feel she was able to read every secret, every flaw of his, and he knew he had many.

But then Rafael stepped in leading them both to the table and Lucia seemed to come to the conclusion to keep the dinner on civil terms, no matter what her own opinions were. As the dinner progressed Lucia asked Peter a wide range of questions, thankfully only a limited amount about Manhattan, and from the smile Rafael sent him Peter hoped he was doing an okay job of answering. Either that or the smile was less a fond one and more reassuring and he was failing miserably. It was hard to tell from Lucias reaction as at every answer all she gave was a sharp nod in response before firing off another question. If Peter wasn’t so nervous he wold have found it almost amusing that such a serious interrogation was happening with both members wearing paper crowns as Christmas carols played softly in the background.

As it was, all the reminders of what day it was just increased the anxiety gnawing at Peters gut, so desperate not to ruin Christmas day. Peter knew Rafael wasn’t exactly Catholic religiously, so the effort put into today just showed how important his family, how important his mom was to him, and if Peter got in the way of that relationship he would never forgive himself. Whatever Rafael might say, Peter still felt as if he had robbed Rafael of the job he adored, robbed Rafael of his passion. He refused to rob him of his family as well.

And it seemed like that might happen. While Lucia was careful to keep a poker face up while he was around, when he went to take the dishes into the kitchen he could hear their hushed conversation. While he couldn’t quite make out the words, from the tone and the fact that when he returned there was a strong charge of tension in the air he had a feeling it wasn’t good.

This feeling only increased when Rafael left to deal with desert, which meant that Peter was completely alone with Lucia.

“You seem like a very charming man, Peter. However, I know more about you than you have told me, you prosecuted my son. I did not bring it up before because I do not like reminding him of the worst day of his life, but I fear that your presence in his life must do that on a daily basis.” When Lucia spoke she did not seem mad, instead simply laying out the facts in a calm manner, which made it even worse. Because Peter knew she was correct and if she had shouted at him maybe he could have tried to have ignored her, put it down to love for her son, a protective nature, clouding her judgement. But now he just had to face the truth. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t still try to fight for Rafael, for the man he loved. 

“I know. That’s why he had to make the first move. We were friends for a while, and in that time I couldn’t help feeling more, I mean you know how smart he is, how funny, how kind even if he won’t let most people know it. I couldn’t help falling for him. But with the history we have I wasn’t going to put that kind of pressure on him. He’s always made the first move between us. Always. It goes at his pace, and you know how intelligent he is, so hopefully he made the right call. Hopefully when he asked me out, it was when I no longer made him think only of that day. If he gives any indication that I do remind him of the case then I would go, but until that happens I’m going to enjoy every day I get to spend with your son.” Peter said, his voice holding steady, strong like it sounded in court, even as his heart seemed to be trying to break out of his chest. While it calmed down for a second when Lucia nodded, this time with a smile on her face, it sped up when he felt eyes on him and looked up to see Rafael leaning in the doorway, before entering properly with the pudding.

“How much did you hear?” Peter whispered to him, leaning in close.

“Enough. And I want you to know when I look at you I remember walks in the park, and times spent arguing supreme court decisions, and lazy mornings. The good things.” Rafael said kissing Peter on the cheek before leaning away and both of them turned their attention back to Lucia, who was looking at them with a genuine, albeit small, smile on her face.

The conversation continued on smoothly, moving on to more general topics and away from the interrogation which had taken up most of the dinner. By the end of the evening Peter felt that the meeting had gone much better than he had expected it to go.

As they went to say their goodbyes at the end of the evening Lucia seemed to confirm that.

“Peter, it was lovely to meet you, and you seem to make my Rafi very happy.” She said, giving Peter a kiss on each cheek, and then while she was still close she said in a low, serious voice, “But if you ever hurt my son again, I will make sure you regret it”

Before Rafael could even say anything along the lines of the fact that the first time wasn’t Peters fault, Peter jumped in.

“I promise I will never do anything purposely to hurt your son, but if I do anything, even on accident, I expect you there to protect him. He deserves that.” Peter said and Lucia gave him a nod of understanding. It was unlikely they would ever be close or even friends, but they had reached the sort of relationship between two people who loved the same person very much and would do anything for them.


End file.
